Shanghai in 3 days

I have just returned from my whirlwind journey to Shanghai, and I would say it was a success. I decided to go on a whim, and I was given 4 days off and couldn't think of a good enough reason not to go. So I went.
I found a relatively cheap flight, and decided to skip the whole hotel/hostel scene and did some couch surfing. For those who don't know, Couch Surfing is a social network website that allows you to find people willing to let you sleep on their couch in exchange for stimulating conversation and worldly wisdom. My host was great and the apartment was really nice.

So the journey began on a cold and rainy Thursday morning. I have a wonderful habit of losing all sense of reality when I wake up, especially when I need to go somewhere. I think I woke up at about 6, in a panic that I was late for my flight (which left at like 1pm), but remembered the note I had prepared for myself the night before that said "wake up at 8, idiot", and happily went back to bed.
So I got up at the proper time, and was on my way. I got to the airport and was at my boarding gate in less than an hour. So phase 1 was a success.

The flight wasn't very long, and served a perfectly edible lunch so it wasn't a bad experience either. I was told to take a shuttle bus into the centre of the city, and again, I found that with ease and was on my way about 10 minutes after I got out of the airport. As we were driving down the highway (at least a half hour into our journey), a fellow traveller realized that we weren't en route to Terminal 2, but to the city centre. He caused a big fuss and told the driver and those who were trying to translate that it was at least 4 other people's fault because they told him this was the bus to Terminal 2. The bus driver ended up turning around for the guy and driving him back to the airport. He did not apologize for the inconvenience, nor was he very thankful. He actually had the bus driver drive him to Terminal 2..so I guess it was the bus after all. Once we were free of that lot, we went back to the city. Phase 2: check.

Once in the city, I wandered around for a little, to find a toilet and then decided to locate the couch on which I would surf. I had a map and the streets were clearly named, so I found it in about 20 minutes. As I was walking, a woman asked me if I needed help, which I didn't, but I asked her if she would follow me until I did. She laughed but declined. I later managed to ask a woman who knew no English to use her phone, and I called Jen, and met her roommate as I waited. The apartment was quite nice. It was new, clean and was inhabited by a Chinese girl, a Swedish fellow and an American. All were very nice and willing to show me around and bring me out to their various social appointments. It was pretty solid. I didn't really do any intense sight seeing though. I saw a garden and I saw the Bund; 2 big ones. I mostly just wandered the streets, which I think beats being herded along the tourist paths anyways.

It was a proper thunderstorm yesterday afternoon, so we didn't go out til later. Jen took me to a really nice area of back ally shops and trendy restaurants where we met some of her friends for dinner. We then proceeded to a little show of a few different bands and drank cheap beer. I thought it would be a wise idea to not sleep as my flight was to leave at 9 this morning. So I think I ended the night according to my plan, but somehow I was woken up (in a similar state as when I went to bed) but managed to get to the airport by 8:10. By the time I got to the check-in counter, boarding had closed and I couldn't get on my plane. Not sure if anyone's experienced this before, missing a flight in Shanghai, with only 280 Yuan (about $47) and no international bank card or credit card (both of which were safely hidden in my apartment in Seoul). So I was told to wait standby and boy did I wait. I was lucky to get a flight at 2, so I got into Seoul 2 hours later. It cost just what I had, which again, was lucky. It was a luck-filled trip.

Anyways, it was a lovely little journey and I think I'll go back some time soon.
Hope you're well
I'm going to sleep.


And remember: baby turtles and alligators may seem like a cute idea for a pet-- but they grow up.